


Prince Phillip, Brave and Kind

by 1000PaperCranes



Category: Maleficent (2014), Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Canon Divergence, F/M, One Shot, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 23:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1797070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000PaperCranes/pseuds/1000PaperCranes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if things were a little more like the animated tale?</p><p>And what if Maleficent's kiss did <em>not</em> wake Aurora?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prince Phillip, Brave and Kind

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer.

Years had passed many and vastly long, in the way these things do for those bereft of love. Diaval ventured out at his mistress' command. He brought news of Stefan's coronation, of Stefan's secret and deepening madness, of the kingdom's growing dismay as their queen failed to fall pregnant. When finally Diaval returned to his mistress with news of a child, she would not hear it.

"Stefan's‒"

"Do not speak to me of him." Diaval sealed his mouth on the words and said no more. The queen had a son and she also would not hear of that.

"The Queen‒"

"Speak not of her, either." Diaval silenced himself, but could not help looking askance upon his mistress. The Queen had done her no wrong. "I bear her no ill will, but to speak of her reminds me of him."

Diaval was a raven. He did not count the years, but he was intelligent. He knew that as the years dragged on Maleficent ceased to mark their passing. The doldrums of a shattered heart crippled her mind a little more each winter. Diaval never stopped going into Aedin, after all the Moors were an unfriendly place to be.

Time drove Stefan into a severe madness. He died, but Diaval spoke not of it to Maleficent, ever mindful of her orders. The Queen ruled gently for many years and, when he was old enough, she called her young cousin Hubert to learn at her side. Hubert grew and married and returned from whence he came. It was not long before the Queen too was dead and her son, named for his father, inherited the throne.

 

\--

 

"The child is a girl."

"What child, Diaval?" Maleficent seems exasperated and exhausted.

"The King's child."

Her lips flush crimson, but all she says is "Oh." Diaval continues to speak, unsure of her reaction.

"There'll be a christening." She cast her eyes aside and down. He knows that look, reminded of how far the kingdoms have grown apart, irregardless of Stefan's betrayal. He continues to speak, hoping to divert her. "They say it's to be a grand celebration."

"A grand celebration for a baby..." Oh dear. He doesn't like that tone. "How wonderful."

 

\--

 

Maleficent cursed the child.

Diaval can barely believe it. He remembers her words on the child's grandmother: ' _I bear her no ill will, but to speak of her reminds me of him_.' He knows why she did it. Maleficent looked upon the King and saw Stefan. The King was today like a portrait of his father before the madness took him in such a hold. She punished Stefan through the tiny princess.

True love's kiss was sadistically ironic; the princess can only be cured by the very thing that began this, long before Stefan blackened his heart, and Maleficent's.

 

\--

 

The stupid trio bumbles off with the baby into the woods and Diaval becomes her constant companion. He resents it at first, the care of this creature an unwanted burden. But all things done for Maleficent are unwanted burdens.

Diaval knows the only way forward is forward. Forward he goes until the day comes that he realizes he is eager to see Aurora. Just when the child had become Aurora, he did not know. He also did not know when Maleficent had stopped caring for Aurora because she needed the child and started caring for Beastie because she wanted to. Maleficent does not know she has changed, but Diaval does and that is enough. Enough for Diaval to forgive her.

Maleficent's shrunken heart swells again as Aurora grows. Diaval wonders what the fairy queen was like before it shriveled away in Stefan's greedy clutches. The night she tries to lift the curse would be the happiest of Diaval's life, if only it had worked. Still he is proud of Maleficent.

 

\--

 

The stupid three have laid traps in the castle. They are surprisingly vicious. Diaval and Maleficent do their best to help Prince Phillip fight his way through. A cadre of armors traps Maleficent, bearing her to the floor under a net of iron chains. Diaval sends Prince Phillip on through the gauntlet. He is their only hope and cannot die under these many swords.

Maleficent turns Diaval "into a Dragon," which is _useful_ , even if it is difficult to maneuver in these tight quarters. He breaths fire, lashes his heavy tail, claws at the awful, enchanted things, and because he is not a fairy, he finally takes them in his teeth. He twists and crushes the hollow metal warriors, softened in his furnace-hot maw. He frees Maleficent and they race after Prince Phillip. He has made it to the corridor outside Aurora's room. He trips, exhaustion from the difficult battles he fought with the them and alone, and falls on his face.

"I hope true love is supposed to be clumsy." Diaval speaks without thinking, but it works in their favor. Prince Phillip sits up, undamaged from the fall at least, and is dragged inside the chamber by those stupid little bits of dandelion fluff. Maleficent and Diaval slip in silently, as if drawn by gravity to a black hole.

Prince Phillip, brave and kind, could not possibly love Aurora yet. He had met her only once, as a lad when she was still pink and new. He had seemed displeased by her then, as most little boys are. Now, he has had years to grow into the role of prince. Prince Phillip accepts that he will marry this young woman and has set his heart on loving her, but has not had the chance. Diaval hopes for it anyway; if they are lucky Prince Phillip, brave and kind, is like a bird. Birds love fast and hard. They meet and mate for life.  Diaval's breath stops; he wants this with everything he is.

It doesn't work.

Diaval is devastated.

"I will not ask you for forgiveness. What I have done is unforgivable. I was so lost in hatred and revenge. I never dreamed that I could love you so much. You stole what was left of my heart. And now I've lost you forever." Diaval knows that Maleficent loves Aurora as fiercely as any mother. "I swear, no harm will come to you so long as I live. And not a day shall pass that I don't miss your smile." Maleficent kisses Aurora's brow, but despite the strength of this new promise, it is not to be. Diaval looks down, feeling the last filament of hope untwist and fray to ash in his heart.

Maleficent stares down at Aurora for a long time. She steps sedately around the bed, drawn away by the acceptance of the inevitable. Her eyes and cheeks shine with tears. Aurora would remain pale and still for all time at Maleficent's own hand.

Diaval cannot think. The man's feet carry him across the floor. He stands in the place where Prince Phillip stood, where Maleficent stood. There is nothing he can do.  Diaval places his hand downy-light on Aurora's arm. He is lost, mindless, in his grief.

Aurora's lips are soft and cool against his. He lingers there without another thought in his head. Despite the fact that he is a bird, Diaval feels tears on his lashes. He pulls back, unsure why he had done that. He still cannot think. The very center of his world is still and silent. The smooth feel of her mouth and the gentle draw of her breaths haunt his lips. She is gone. He can feel, but his mind is bare and blank. She is gone.

"Pretty Bird." It's barely a sound. Maleficent jerks around in her tracks, but Diaval cannot look away from Aurora's eyes. So blue; he thought he'd never see them again. She looks to Maleficent. "Hello, Godmother."

"Hello, Beastie."

 

\--

 

Several weeks pass and Aurora is the darling princess of both Aedin and the Moors. Prince Phillip, brave and kind, fetches his mother, wise and calm, and father, King Hubert, fat and merry. They bring with them able-bodied craftsmen and a willingness to rule temporarily from the shadows, allowing the royal family to fall apart and reassemble itself alongside the castle.

In all that time, Diaval does not leave Maleficent's side and together they make sentry to Aurora, often out of sight. Prince Phillip does not mind them, and if the kings and queens have noticed, they do not seem to mind either. Aurora is glad for their presence and that is all that matters to Diaval.

 

\--

 

Prince Phillip, brave and kind, sits down on the courtyard wall, next to a raven. "Speak to me, Diaval."

"What would you like me to say?"

"You love her, don't you?"

"You love her, don't you," he parrots.

"Deflecting won't make this conversation go away." Prince Phillip looks ahead into the middle distance. "I see the way you look at her."

Prince Phillip does not look angry, merely pensive. Diaval decides to answer him. "Very much."

"She cares for you."

Diaval does not wince, too used to the penetrating kind of conversation Maleficent favored. "It's not the same."

Prince Phillip hums in agreement. It is silent between the two men for some time. "I think," Prince Phillip begins slowly, "that my father and her father are great friends. What need have we to unite a kingdom?" Diaval truly does not understand. He remains silent. Phillip continues, "Would it not be better to forge a bond of blood between Aedin and the Moors?"

"She is not a tool!" Maleficent had treated Aurora as such and Diaval had _always_ resented that.

"No." Phillip looks very seriously into Diaval's eyes. "And she does not love me." Diaval opens his mouth. He is not sure what he would have protested with, but Phillip does not give him the opportunity. "She does love you. Perhaps not the way you want, but she might."

"Do you love her?" Perhaps it is Phillip who does not wish to marry Aurora.

"Truly?" Phillip raises his brows. "No." He looks out again. "Not yet, but I want to." Phillip was not only brave and kind. He sighs then takes a deeper breath. "I think the best way to do that, now, is to let her choose."

"You are a prince. I am a _bird_." Surely, Phillip knows that humans marry _each other_ , not garden animals.

"You are more than that." Phillip looks back at him, just as sincere as Diaval has ever seen him. "We are equals."

 

\--

 

Phillip never says another word about love to Diaval. He spends years in Aedin, learning to rule alongside Aurora and teaching her what he already knows. The bond between them grows deep and strong. Diaval spends his time the same way he always has, much of it perching on windowsills wherever Aurora goes. He is as much her constant companion as Phillip is, but makes no move to come between the prince and princess.

Aurora grows in grace and beauty. She is perpetually happy as is her gift, but never so much as the day of the wedding. She is radiant in the sunset. They dance late into the night in the field where the thorn wall once grew, stars shooting in the moonlit sky.

 

\--

 

Phillip laughs when Aurora's first child grows feathers instead of hair.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I named the Kingdom Aedin after reading that Prince Phillip had been named, by Disney, after Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. I dropped the 'burgh' and got Edin, which was right where I wanted to be except for the religious correlation. Change the spelling to something a little fanciful and BANG! perfect name for a Disney Kingdom. Right after Far-Far-Away, which was already taken.
> 
> In case you didn't get it, 'cause I'm vague and poetic like that, Aurora marries Diaval.


End file.
